Statement by H.E. Mr. Kenzo OSHIMA
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Japan
At the Plenary of the General Assembly
On the Secretary-General's proposal to strengthen the capacity of the Organization on Peacekeeping Operations and to advance the disarmament agenda

New York, Monday, 15 March 2007

Thank you, Madam President,

Japan welcomes the adoption of the two framework resolutions. Japan also welcomes and encourages the Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon for his strong commitment to the Secretariat reform. We support the broad thrust of the Secretary-General's proposals on strengthening the capacity of the Organization to meet the challenges of expanding peacekeeping operations and the advancing the disarmament agenda.

Madam President,

Delegation of Japan highly appreciates your initiative to facilitate Member States' consideration of the Secretary-General's proposals in an open and transparent manner, in particular for coming up with these framework resolutions.

Japan is also grateful for the four facilitators, the Permanent Representatives of Norway, Sri Lanka, Portugal and Uruguay for their efforts in guiding us in the consultation process.

Madam President,

Here, I wish to reiterate Japan's conviction that ensuring budgetary discipline and accountability with regard to the budget, procurement, personnel and reporting lines is of utmost importance.

We are also of the view that it is appropriate to consider and make decisions on the financial implications of the restructuring of the DPKO as well as the establishment of the Office for Disarmament Affairs in the context of the whole structure of the Secretariat. In this regard, we appreciate the Secretary-General's commitment that his proposals are to be resource-neutral with respect to the programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007 and we expect that commitment will be kept.

At the same time, we wish to state here for the record, that, it is our understanding that the programme budget outline for the biennium 2008-2009 that is contained in A/RES/61/254 will be fully respected and should be the basis for the coming deliberations.

Madam President,

We share the clarification you have just made that Paragraph 3 of the PKO resolution takes into account the relevant General Assembly resolutions on the PKO management reform. This clarification is very important. We appreciate that you have made clarification clearly at the time of adoption. It is our understanding that the relevant General Assembly resolutions include A/RES/60/266, A/RES/60/268, A/RES/60/234B and A/RES/61/246. These four resolutions request the Secretary-General to report on a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of the support account, to refine the concept and functioning of integrated missions, to ensure full implementation of the recommendations of the Board of Auditors and to submit a comprehensive report on the management arrangements for procurement including clear line of accountability and delegation of authority.

With regard to the framework resolution on disarmament, we expect that this reform will serve to advance the disarmament agenda more effectively. At the same time we wish to make our understanding clear with regard to the wording in Paragraph 1 of the disarmament resolution, which refers to "maintaining the budgetary autonomy." This reference does not in anyway prejudice the budgetary control and discipline that is ensured by the Controller.

Madam President,

We are looking forward to playing a constructive role in the concerted efforts of the Member States, building upon the framework resolutions adopted today.

I thank Madam President.

Related Information (PKO)
Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations Official Web Site